12. Closing Week

Praise and Worship Time

1. Begin with opening prayer

2. Sing songs: (songs of choice)

Set up for Final Competitions:

Set out the event signup sheets and give the children time to decide which events they want to participate in while they enjoy the party. Limit the number of events per child if necessary.

Party (Optional)

Provide some snacks and drinks and allow the children to fellowship with one another for a few minutes. You may want to consider inviting parents to this event so they may celebrate the children’s successes.

Begin Events

· Event 1: Place the books of the Old Testament in order

· Event 2: Place the books of the New Testament in order

· Event 3: Place the 10 Commandments in order

· Event 4: Match the Key Passages with their Scripture reference and find them in Scripture (set out enough bibles)

· Event 5: Place the Desert Trek cards in Chronological order

· Event 6: Place all the books of the bible in their correct order

· Event 7: Take home event option 1 – Illustration of one of the commandments

· Event 8: Take home event option 2 – Illustration of one of the Desert Trek events

Wrap Up

During our Desert Trek we learned much about who God is. Here are just some of the things we learned:

1. God is Holy and gave Himself a name “I am that I am” and from that name, “I Am” we learn God is a person and that He is self-sufficient.

2. God is above any and all things we can make to represent Him. It is best, therefore, not to even try to make an idol of Him nor should we worship anything else but Him.

3. Names are important in Scripture, especially names of God. The names of God help us gain a better understanding of who He is. We should not use His name in vain.

4. God does not like complaining. He gives us what He wants us to have. He has also set aside a day for us to rest and meditate on Him because He knows we need rest.

5. When we honor our parents, we honor God for God gave us our parents.

6. Human life is important to God for we are created in His image. We should preserve life, not take it.

7. God is the ultimate promise keeper. If we are going to be like God, we too should keep our promises. Keeping our promises when we are young helps us keep promises when we are adults such as our marriage promise to our husband/wife one day.

8. God provides all we need (like He provided manna and even someone to replace Moses after Moses died). When we steal we tell God what He has provided is not enough and that we need more. This saddens God.

9. Truth is very important to God. Jesus even said, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.” We should always be honest; there is never a good excuse to lie.

10. God wants to be all we want and need. We should not covet what others have for we are not measured by what we own.

We also learned we can honor God by obeying His commands and His instructions.

God asked the Israelites to be different than others who did not know Him. We should be different as well. If we are going to call ourselves Christians, we should behave like Christians so that others will be drawn to God because of what we say and do. It is our responsibility to go out and share God with others.

Pray

· Worship God for all that He is (see above).

· Thank Him for the gift of His word that by it we learn more about Him.

· Thank Him for providing all we need, including Jesus as our Savior.

· Ask Him to help you represent Him well.

Closing (10 minutes)

1. Award those that competed in each event.

2. Award first through third place in each event.

3. Closing prayer.

4. Closing song – song of choice